Children who start school with positive achievements remain successful throughout their education. On the other hand, gaps in academic performance that exist at Kindergarten entry continue to grow as curriculum advances. The key is to pay attention to these emergent learners and to be proactive about their progress. Support learning in areas of strength and weakness with the overall goal of a balanced, well-rounded child who is curious about learning. Ideally a child’s introduction to instruction is based on a solid foundation of social emotional development, approaches to learning, communication, cognitive development, and physical well-being. In the social-emotional realm, it is important for a child to: 1) be able to separate comfortably from parents, 2) adapt to daily transitions, 3) get along with others, 4) control their own behaviors and emotions, and 5) cope positively with conflicts and frustrations. Essential Kindergarten language skills include: 1) attaining the concepts of sentence, word, letter and sound, 2) upper and lower case letter naming, sound correspondence, letter writing, hearing initial sounds in words, 3) writing one’s own name and recognizing the names of others, and 4) identifying initial and final consonants. If you are unsure about your child’s school readiness, seek a Kindergarten Screening to have information from which to make decisions. Then, observe potential school settings, trust your hunches, seek expert advice when necessary, and look into all the options available. Schools that are “Kindergarten ready” help children and their families make this important transition a happy one by expressing a commitment to the success of every child. CCLLC provides a high-quality, intensive 6-week summer preschool experience, referred to as ABC Camp to provide children who are transitioning to kindergarten or first grade with a sense of self confidence in their expressive, social and intellectual abilities. ABC Camp is focused on children who would benefit from additional practice in phonological awareness, sound-symbol correspondence and letter formation. ABC Camp is taught using the fundamentals of Wilson Language Training and Handwriting Without Tears with direct instruction in beginning reading, writing and math to support a successful transition to school. Pre and post testing allows instruction to be targeted in effective small group instruction.

ABC Camp makes the early learning experience fun, motivating and transferable to a larger, less accommodating school environment. Art, music, tumbling, cooking and field trips are incorporated to provide a creative, yet structured curriculum. It gives children and their families the extra boost many of them need to make a successful transition by providing a structured environment to “practice” school, including the expected behaviors, direction following, and academics needed to be successful in a mainstream setting. Many years, but not all, the summer group continues to meet in the fall, after school to support a positive school experience. Organic snacks are provided. CCLLC offers a morning and an afternoon program M-F from 9-12 and 12-3.